Thursday, January 31, 2013

Ziad captured this image from Syrian regime TV: The writings on the screen from Syrian regime TV says: "The Iraqi popular committee for solidarity with Syria: The Flagrant Israeli aggression constitutes an evidence of the fear of the Zionist entity from the Syrian Arab army which possesses arms and capabilities that "Israel" fears in the probable battle of military decisiveness in the liberation of Palestine."

From M.: "Reading your post
today regarding Clinton's comments on Egyptians and "understanding
democracy", I was immediately reminded of the following video:

During the press conference at 5:20, the reporter states, "A State
Department official from Clinton’s entourage allowed two journalists to ask
questions. Both had accompanied Clinton from Washington. The two Egyptian
journalists allowed to ask questions were from state television, known for their
pro-military bias. TRN’s repeated attempts to ask a question were
ignored."

Clinton, whilst ignoring the reporter's question about the $1.3b given to
the Egyptian military, gleefully proclaims, "This is great evidence of a free
press, which is part of democracy!"

...Yeah.

Makes me curious about the levels of coercion involved when the media
accepts its role of vetting
and suppressing discourse..."

"They also chanted slogans, such as “No Entry for Arabs,” although the players
are not Arabs.

Though
Beitar fans have a long, checkered history of bigoted outbursts and violence,
the latest behavior shocked many here. Critics said use of the word “pure” was
particularly offensive because similar language has been used against the Jewish
people, including during the
Holocaust."

From "Ibn Rushd": "[This guy] is such a fame whore. At the airport, he was simply asked why he was carrying
so many books, so he turned the incident into an attack against the freedom of
the press and he called all his buddies of "journalists against violence" and
started sending communiqués to the entire world."

In our discussion, Dad, about Arab nationalism, communism,
religious expansion in our countries and Palestine’s liberation I admit I was
always critical. But today I find within me something I didn’t realize I’d had
and I want to tell you about it. It has nothing to do with analysis and
theories. It’s more like a painful ailment that doesn’t heal. I feel loss and
alienation. How could one spend an entire lifetime without a homeland!

Why am I feeling this now? I don’t know. However, it seems
inevitable that there will be a day when one wakes up to realize that one’s
pursuits in life aren’t really life, but more like attempts to forget or ignore
life, loss, identity, homeland and Palestine. I’d thought Palestine was a part
of speech. Father, I belong to a generation that cannot be blamed for this
because Palestine is a homeland we never experienced. How can I long for
something I’ve never known especially since Palestine, in my mind, is
associated with worry, security procedures and a confiscated childhood. Every
time I heard your favorite phrase “every span of Palestine” I’d realize that
the road ahead was still far. This preoccupied me when I was a child: when
would we arrive! Until this worrisome moment…

Today I know, Father, that a quiet life without concerns has
no flavor. It has no past, no future, no memory, no soul, no warmth, no
homeland. This land, which is home to all prophets including Jesus, who came to
spread love, tolerance, peace and the bread of life: this land itself is the
bread of life. Today I share with you the ailment of incurable love and insist
on your historic slogan “return to Palestine, every span of Palestine” because
every span of Palestine is a part of our hearts. How would one bargain one’s
own flesh and soul? Today I share the optimism and confidence you’d always had,
which I didn’t understand at the time.

Today I share your confidence and certainty. Please don’t
ask me how or why. Does love move through birth or heritage or historical
inevitability, which you talked about frequently? I don’t know. But I want to
tell you today, five years after your departure, that I’m incurably in love and
I understand you today more than ever and I share your dream and certainty that
we will return."

"A follower of the blog that lives in Jordan.
I decided to send you this because you frequently show your love with arab
hatafat on your blog. This was a leftist rally in Jordan a few days ago in
solidarity with George. At the 21 minute mark theres some chants you should find
amusing dedicated to your favorite khaleeji royal family. Also at the 18 minute
20 second mark I thought what happened was very revealing. Before the Syrian
uprising, across the region especially in Egypt/Jordan at
palestinian solidarity demonstrations the chant "ya Arab Allah Allah" would be
completed by "at3lamoo min Hezb***** ." (learn from ***). In this case, the
person leading the chant replaces the second part of the slogan with "wmnheye
Georg Abd*ullah" (and salutations to George) which causes the laughter of his
friends who know how closely associated the chant is with the original version.
In the repeat of the chant the friends of the protest leader reverse the words
back and say its original version. I just found it funny that clearly there were
deliberations amongst these guys (one of whom who I know personally) in advance
of the protest, about if its appropriate to praise the Lebanese group in front of a crowd of Palestinian leftists.
Before, despite the saudi media campaign against the group which had little
effect ouside the khaleej, people across the region would say the chant readily
and the group enjoyed real sha3biya especially in Jordan/Egypt. It just exposed
to me the extent of their screw up in sticking with Bashar for so long
(notwithstanding the large debt they perceived they owe him). In Jordan alot of
the arab nationalist/ leftist circles (who mostly adopt a Haytham Manna style
solution to the Syrian conflict) just assumed that since he publicly praised all
5 previous uprisings he couldn't take such a hypocritical one sided position at
the start of the uprising (when it was still overwhelmingly peaceful and
non-sectarian). He postion badly tarnished his image. The clip just made me
realize that if uttering the groups name has become controversial even amongst
its supporters, it speaks alot to their popularity in the region now. In Egypt,
too, I noticed during the protests for Gaza 2 months back the specific chants
that would invoke the groups name have been altered (feel free to confirm that
with your comrade Hossam). The relationship of the group with whatever emerges
in post Assad Syria will probobly play a big role in determining the Arab masses
attitude toward them in the future

From Ahmet of Tunisia: "Asad, the guy is talking up one
regime that imprisons its citizens for "extending their tongues" at his Davos
buddy, the King; and another whose monarch's personal corruption has been the
subject of a recently published book. Liberalization at its best:
"The
best role models for the region might well be two small monarchies. Jordan and
Morocco have gone the opposite route, making measured reforms and liberalizing
their existing systems. " Did Zakaria write this himself or did he plagiarize it from the press releases of the royal courts in both countries? ha ha ha

""He wanted to know why it is that the British government is so intent on
fighting and bombing Islamic extremists in Mali, while simultaneously arming and
funding equally brutal Islamic extremists in Syria." "The more important point
here is that of all the people on the planet, there is nobody with less
authority to accuse others of supporting "brutal Arab dictators in the world"
than David Cameron and his Nato allies, including those in the Obama
administration. Supporting "brutal Arab dictators in the world" is a perfect
summary of the west's approach to the Arab world for the last five decades, and
it continues to be."" (thanks Amir)

"Then there's Britain's long-standing support for the Mubarak dictatorship,
and Cameron's personal support for Mubarak as the protest movement unfolded. In
January, 2011, as tens of thousands of Egyptians assembled to demand an end to
their dictatorship, he sat for an
interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, who asked him whether Mubarak should
resign. Cameron said: "What we support is evolution, reform, not revolution." As
Egyptian police were killing protesters, this exchange then occurred:

"ZAKARIA: Is Mubarak a friend of Britain?"CAMERON: He is a
friend of Britain. Britain has good relations with Egypt.""

"Syria summoned the head of a United
Nations mission in the Golan Heights on Thursday to protest against an Israeli
air raid which Damascus said is a violation of a disengagement accord that
followed the last major war between the two countries.""From its numerous positions and through patrolling, UNDOF [United
Nations Disengagement Observer Force] supervises the area of separation and
intervenes whenever any military personnel enter or try to operate
therein."

"People
in the north Malian city who have knowledge of the documents reported that there
was no malicious destruction of any library or collection, said the University
of Cape Town, which helped fund a state-of-the-art library to house
manuscripts. "The
custodians of the libraries worked quietly throughout the rebel occupation of
Timbuktu to ensure the safety of their materials," said the university. Islamist
rebels have been in control of Timbuktu for nearly 10 months. The
university said that a report from Britain's Sky News that 25,000 manuscripts
had been burned was false. Other news reports quoted the city mayor, who wasn't
in the city, saying manuscripts had been destroyed, the university
said." (thanks AK)

Many months after the attack on Israeli terrorists--sorry, tourists I get them confused all the time--in Bulgaria, and after long articles in Western media linking the attack to Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Bulgarian government has not charged any Lebanese. This despite front page articles in the US press blaming Lebanese.

This country's chuzpah has not limits: "Israel strongly criticized Argentina on Tuesday, summoning its ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to explain Argentina’s agreement with Iran to establish a joint commission to investigate the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, an attack for which Tehran is widely blamed."

"Islamist radicals who summarily executed, stoned and mutilated people
they suspected of being nonbelievers during their 10-month occupation." Wait: so the force of Islamist radicals from Mali are occupiers but not the French troops??

"Avi Cohen, 22, who works in a warehouse, pointed to the Umm al-Fahm fans
chanting “Allahu akbar,” which reminded him of what Palestinian suicide
bombers said before blowing themselves up during the second intifada..."

"“People in Israel
usually try to locate Beitar Jerusalem as some kind of the more extreme
fringe; this is a way to overcome the embarrassment,” said Moshe
Zimmermann, a historian at Hebrew University who specializes in sports.
“The fact is that the Israeli society on the whole is getting more
racist, or at least more ethnocentric, and this is an expression.”

Reaction to the purity banner, perhaps the most controversial in a
series of Beitar outbursts, was swift. One of the fans who made the sign
was arrested and banned from games for the season. Fifty more were
barred from Tuesday’s match, along with banners of all kinds, and the
team was fined about $13,500, amid concerns that the episode could
threaten Israel’s scheduled hosting of a European Under 21 soccer
tournament in June.

President Shimon Peres sent the soccer association a sharply worded
letter, and Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister who has been one of
Beitar’s biggest financial boosters, wrote a much-discussed opinion article in the newspaper Yediot Aharanot declaring he would no longer be seen in the stands.

“The competition has long since stopped being of a sportsmanship
nature,” Mr. Olmert wrote. “Either we remove this group of racists from
our field and cut it off from the team, or we are all like them.”

Nor are the tensions only between Israel’s 1.5 million Arab citizens and
its six million Jews. A left-leaning lawmaker filed a complaint with
the elections commission this month asserting that a campaign advertisement
depicting a blond Russian woman getting a conversion certificate faxed
to her under the wedding canopy — as opposed to going through a
substantive religious process as now required — was “racist and presents
the immigrant population in a ridiculous light.” Last spring, Israeli
lawmakers used racial slurs during protests against the influx of
migrant workers from Africa, with one eventually apologizing for calling them “a cancer in our body.”

Adalah, a legal center for Arabs in Israel, counted 20 discriminatory laws passed by the current Parliament, including one restricting residency in certain communities. Nidal Othman, director of the Coalition Against Racism in Israel, said there had been a 20 percent to 30 percent increase in “racist incidents” in the past two years.

“When talking about Beitar, it’s actually showing a mirror for the Israeli society,” said Mr. Othman, a lawyer with the Mossawa Center,
which advocates for civil and human rights. “The political leaders and
the religious leaders of the community are feeding the society with
different racist incitements — against Arabs at all, against Muslims at
all and against different groups in Israel.”..

Lindy Mizrahi, one of the few women in the young, testosterone-filled
stands, said she did not agree with the purity banner but nonetheless
wanted only Jews to wear her team’s trademark yellow and black. “Beitar
is a group of very Zionist Jews who believes that Jerusalem belongs to
the Jews,” she explained. “We are for peace — but not inside Beitar.”

"Outside assessments based on video of the university blasts suggested that a Syrian military missile was responsible." Outside? Outside where and whom? And what are those assessments? Let me guess. Activists reached through skype, right?

"Hezbollah’s possession of such weapons would be a serious worry for the Israeli government, said Matthew Levitt, a former intelligence official who is at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy." Look at the people cited in this article. A former Mossad official and this Zionist. Not one Arab is cited. This, in America, is called journalistic balance.

Israeli propaganda keeps getting dumber and dumber: "a convoy carrying sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry on the outskirts
of Damascus that was intended for the Hezbollah Shiite militia in
Lebanon." And the were able to judge the intention from the air?

Yesterday, Israel attacked Syria. To accompany the article on the Israeli attack, the New York Times selected a picture of Israelis scrambling for gas masks. I mean, is there a more vulgar, and crude, and blatant propaganda obscenity than this? Also, since Israelis are supplied with gas masks every few months, whenever Israel attacks and butchers and massacres, should not all Israelis by now have enough gas masks. Somebody should do a count. I estimate that since 1990, every Israeli has at least 49 gas masks in his possession (all paid for by American tax payers).

From now on, and benefiting and learning from Zionist propaganda in the US media, I will bill EVERY SINGLE Arab violent attack on Israel as a preemptive strike. In fact, every act of Arab violence in Palestine since 1929 has been a preemptive strike.

This is the time. All armed groups in Syria (in the side of the regime and in the side of the armed opposition group) should be disarmed and repudiated as they don't use their fire to defend Syrian territory from Israeli attacks.

The lousy Syrian regime, and according to the doctrine of Hafidh Al-Asad, is still looking for the right time and place to respond to Israeli attack on Syria. The response is expected in the next century and in the Pacific Ocean.

When Bill Clinton chose Al Gore as his vice-presidential candidate in 1992, he presented him as the expert on foreign policy (simply because he "sat" on the foreign relations committee on the Senate). To showcase his credentials, he appeared on the This Week program on ABC News the following day. I was watching. He was asked about the call for moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was indignant: he said that it should be moved because all foreign embassies in Israel were located in Jerusalem. When he said those word, I checked: only Costa Rica and El Salvador had their embassies in Jerusalem when he spoke his ignorant words. The other day, he was defending his sale of his lousy network to Qatar on American TV: he said that Qatar is "the closes ally" of the US in the region and that it hosts the US fleet. This foreign policy expert confuses Qatar and Bahrain but is still considered a foreign policy expert.

From Ali, the Turkey correspondent:
"Turkey fell back ten places to number 148 in the 2011-2012 World Press Freedom
Index. According to the report of Reporters Without Borders, press freedom is in
an even worse state in only 31 countries. Source":

The entire arsenal of the defeated Syrian regime is reserved for the defense of the regime and not for defending Syria or for liberating the occupied territories. This was the Hafidh Al-Asad's Defense Doctrine.

"In many neighborhoods, a store owner might shrug off such a call. But on
Lee Avenue, the commercial spine of Hasidic Williamsburg, the warning
carried an implied threat — comply with community standards or be
shunned. It is a potent threat in a neighborhood where shadowy,
sometimes self-appointed modesty squads use social and economic leverage
to enforce conformity.

The owner wrestled with the request for a day or two, but decided to
follow it. “We can sell it without mannequins, so we might as well do
what the public wants,” the owner told the manager, who asked not to be
identified because of fear of reprisals for talking.

In the close-knit world of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, community members
know the modesty rules as well as Wall Street bankers who show up for
work in a Brooks Brothers suit. Women wear long skirts and long-sleeved,
high-necked blouses on the street; men do not wear Bermuda shorts in
summer. Schools prescribe the color and thickness of girls’ stockings.

The rules are spoken and unspoken, enforced by social pressure but also,
in ways that some find increasingly disturbing, by the modesty
committees. Their power is evident in the fact that of the half dozen
women’s clothing stores along Lee Avenue, only one features mannequins,
and those are relatively shapeless, fully clothed torsos.

The groups have long been a part of daily life in the ultra-Orthodox
communities that dot Brooklyn and other corners of the Jewish world. But
they sprang into public view with the trial of Nechemya Weberman,
a prominent member of the Satmar Hasidim in Brooklyn, who last week was
sentenced to 103 years in prison after being convicted of sexually
abusing a young girl sent to him for counseling.

Mr. Weberman, an unlicensed therapist, testified during his trial that
boys and girls — though not his accuser — were regularly referred to him
by a Hasidic modesty committee concerned about what it viewed as
inappropriate attire and behavior.

The details were startling: a witness for Mr. Weberman’s defense, Baila Gluck,
testified that masked men representing a modesty committee in the
Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, N.Y., 50 miles northwest of New York
City, broke into her bedroom about seven years ago and confiscated her
cellphone."

" Israel became the first country to withhold cooperation from a United Nations
review of its human rights practices on Tuesday, shunning efforts by
the United States and others to encourage it to participate." And then notice how mild the statement is by Amnesty International: "“If the Israeli government is not careful, it will ruin an important
global human rights process for everybody,” Peter Splinter, a Geneva
representative of Amnesty International, commented in a blog post."

And in passing: "The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist organization based
in Britain with a network of contacts in Syria, said at least 50 bodies
had been located, scattered along the banks of a small river in the
Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, which is mostly under rebel control. Later
reports put the tally much higher."

"Leaked emails have allegedly proved
that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack
in Syria that could be blamed on Assad's regime and in turn, spur
international military action in the devastated country. A
report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior
officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme
'approved by Washington' is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund
rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons." (thanks Gabriel)

""Perfectly symbolizing the trajectory of the Obama presidency, this
close-Guantanamo envoy will now "become the department's coordinator for
sanctions policy". Marcy Wheeler summarizes the shift this way: "Rather than
Close Gitmo, We'll Just Intercept More Medical Goods for Iran"." "Put simply,
Obama's plan was never to close Gitmo as much as it was to re-locate it to
Illinois: to what the ACLU dubbed "Gitmo North"." "In sum, Obama's "closing
Gitmo" plan was vintage Obama: a pretty symbolic gesture designed to enable
Democrats to feel good while retaining the core powers that constituted the
injustice in the first place.""

""More than a thousand former prisoners complain that they were
severely mistreated after being detained by the British military during the
five-year occupation of the south-east of the country, while others – including
women and children – say they were abused when their male relatives were being
detained." "Many of the allegations focus upon the work of a shadowy
interrogation facility known as the Joint Forces Interrogation Team, operated by
all three branches of the services at a detention centre near Basra. During
earlier proceedings, JFIT was condemned in court as "Britain's Abu
Ghraib".""

""Mr Assad's fall would mean less military
and political aid for Hizbollah, reducing its threat to
Israel." "Indeed, in the interview, Mr Yaalon did not deny Israel has
had contact with opposition members, saying "whether there is contact or not,
you don't expect me to discuss these things in the media". Analysts say Israeli officials have mostly kept mum about
criticising events in Syria - which Israel considers an enemy - to avoid having
Mr Al Assad try to win public support and sympathy by saying Israel is backing
his rivals."

Amir sent me this:
""The Associated
Press:The Lebanese military said Wednesday that Israeli
warplanes have sharply increased their activity over Lebanon in
the past week, including at least 12 sorties in less than 24 hours in the
country's south."

"The
Lebanese National News Agency: Eight Israeli warplanes
violated Tuesday- between 9.35 am and 13.10 pm- the Lebanese
airspace and effectuated the usual circular maneuver
off the various Lebanese regions, a communiqué by the Lebanese Army
Command-Guidance Directorate said. The Israeli planes then left respectively
towards the occupied Palestinian territories, communiqué
concluded."

"Two Israeli reconnaissance warplanes violated the Lebanese
airspace on Monday at 19;40 pm and executed circular maneuvers over
different Lebanese regions, then left at 21;10 pm towards the occupied
territories, according to the Army directorate."

"In a clear violation of the
Lebanese sovereignty and the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the
Zionist enemy established on Monday a new control point in the highlands
overlooking the Wazzani Fortress resort in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese
National News Agency reported. “The new control post is
located on the border with occupied Palestine, in the area whose boundaries are
not approved by Lebanon yet,” NNA added. The agency noted
that the Zionist army has set up a tent in the point, and three Merkava tanks
have been put inside deep holes which were dug about a month ago,” adding that
unmanned Zionist drones have flown over Lebanon’s Wazzani area and the occupied
Shebaa Farms on the same day."

This is now a big story. The Lebanese Mufti, Muhammad Qabbani (who is a corrupt and incompetent man who was plucked from obscurity by the ill-cited, Rafiq Hariri, and appointed to the post only for his loyalty to Hariri money) has ruled that any Muslim who accepts civil marriage is an apostate and that it is impermissible to wash his body after his death. Rafiq Hariri started the fanatic opposition to civil marriage in Lebanon in the late 1990s, when Ilyas Hrawi proposed it, and it won a vote in the Lebanese Council of Ministers. Mufti Qabbani did not explain whether his fatwawa applies to placing the body of the apostate in a washer and/or dryer.

"And the Egyptian Presidency repudiated them and reaffirmed a commitment
to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, which is, of course, absolutely core
to everything that we hope to see happen in the Middle East."

"And it’s hard. It’s hard going from decades under one-party or one-man
rule, as somebody said, waking up from a political coma and
understanding democracy." Well, I would maintain that the US and not the Egyptian people was in a state of coma. The US and not the Egyptian people were in denial about the true nature of the Sadat-Mubarak regime. No, in fact they were not in denial: they knew full well what they were doing against the Egyptian people.

I never thought that car bombs are legitimate and accurate weapons of destruction and murder until I started reading US news accounts of car bombs by armed rebel groups in Syria. Look at the New York Times: "Also on Monday, the Nusra Front, an Islamist group allied with Al Qaeda
in Iraq that Washington has declared a terrorist organization, posted a
statement online taking responsibility for a bombing a week ago at the
headquarters of a pro-government militia in Salamiya, in Hama Province.
The group said at least 42 people were killed."

From a student at AUB: ""Today we were asked to join "an interactive discussion
session" via satellite with Mrs Hillary Clinton. MBC TV completely disregarded
our questions and gave us a set of questions to ask from. So much for freedom of
speech."It's so ridiculous it's almost funny...If you post this
please don't put my name."

Yet, again a new Israeli leader emerges. And yet again: there is a love affair in US media with that man. Do some of you remember the glowing profiles of Netanyahu when he first emerged? Hell, I remember reading in the US press about the "charm" of Shamir. Kid you not.

From comrade Talal: "I mean, there were THREE SHIPS over the last couple of months caught with
weapons coming from TURKEY. And what does the Times publish? A dingy boat coming
from Iran. Unbelievable shoddy, suspect journalism."

From "Ibn Rushd": ""two years after Egyptians dramatically toppled Hosni Mubarak, Washington has
the same Mubarak-era policy: ignore the regime's domestic abuses to win its
cooperation on foreign policy".

From Marc: "have you seen all the dumb media reports about this .... 37 year old first
term congresswoman who has only been in office for three weeks, and she's
already prostrating before the israel lobby calling for georges abdallah to die
in prison?

i mean, you read it and think she's the speaker of the house or something.
look at her voting record, she's only voted on five bills with
one "aye" two "yeas" one "no" and a "nay." i didnt even know there were that
many options. she doesn't even have an issues page up, every time you click an
issue it asks you to email her. whatever man."

""One
can only hope that the Arab Spring remains a Spring, and doesn't turn to Winter,
that our office in Damascus can open again, as we were able to reopen in Libya,
and that new governments of all persuasions in the region will forge a vision
for culture in their countries, recognising the potency of the arts and creative
industries in helping to build a stable society, to create employment, to enrich
the lives of their citizens, and to define a new and positive national
identity. ..."(thanks Nu`man)

""For
two decades, Jordan has also been a strong partner for peace with Israel. AJC
recognizes the vital role King Abdullah has played -- and continues to play --
as a voice for peace, and as a pragmatic leader in a turbulent region." (thanks Sammy)

By the way, I did not see anything about this in the Western media. For several days, House of Saud media peddled an explosive story: they claimed that a Syrian diplomat in Saudi Arabia (who it turned out was a part-time contractor) came to the Saudi government with this story: that he was ordered by the Syrian government to undertake bombing in Mecca. The story did not say if he also had sought the assistance of Mexican drug cartel or Texan car salesmen.

""It has taken a few days for me to reach
those U.S. reporters and for them to reach their own sources. But now, two
different individuals, one of whom spoke directly with a U.S. government source,
have told me the story [explosion at Fordo nuclear plant] is likely false. Also,
Reuters reported yesterday that Jay Carney said the U.S. could not verify the
report and that it was likely not credible." "All this raises the question: why
would Israeli intelligence or diplomats go to the trouble of putting out a hoax
like this?"

""The US itself is the world's leading cyber-aggressor. A major
purpose of this expansion is to strengthen the US's ability to destroy other
nations with cyber-attacks. Indeed, even the Post report notes that a major
component of this new expansion is to "conduct offensive computer operations
against foreign adversaries". It is the US - not Iran, Russia or "terror" groups
- which already is the first nation (in partnership with Israel) to aggressively
deploy a highly sophisticated and extremely dangerous cyber-attack." "The US
isn't the vulnerable victim of cyber-attacks. It's the leading perpetrator of
those attacks.""

""Two Obama administration officials said military planners are
eyeing the West African country of Niger as a base for unarmed Predator drones,
which would greatly boost U.S. spy missions in the region." "A Predator base
could require as many as 250 Air Force personnel to launch and maintain the
drones, as well as to provide protection for U.S. troops.""

""Those battalions, which include Nusra and another Islamist
brigade, Ahrar al Sham, have been at the forefront of the fighting across Syria.
More moderate Islamist groups, such as the Farouq Brigades and Liwa Tawhid, both
of which are believed to be allied with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, also
operate across the country. Nusra is believed to have as many as 5,000 men under
arms, and Sham is thought possibly to be larger, making the Islamist-led groups
the largest fighting organizations of the multi-faceted Syrian opposition."" (thanks Amir)

"PhilWe’ve got a new
offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear
that the idea is approved by Washington.We’ll have to deliver a CW to
Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should
have.They
want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak
Russian and
make a video record.Frankly, I don’t think it’s a
good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?Kind regardsDavid"

"Q There were weekend
reports of a very significant explosion at a nuclear facility in Iran -- Fordow;
Fordow is the name of it, near Qom. And I wonder if you have anything that you
can relay to us about what the U.S. government does or does not know about
that.MR. CARNEY: Sure. I appreciate both questions. On the
first, we have no information to confirm the allegations in that report, and
we do not believe the report is credible.On the status
--Q -- of have an explosion of any kind?MR.
CARNEY: Correct, at the Fordow facility. We don't believe those are
credible reports. We have no information that would confirm them and do
not believe that those reports or that report is
credible."

For just 200 shekels, about $53, and in only 40 short classes, the Cain and
Abel School for Prophets says it will certify anyone as a modern-day Jewish
soothsayer. The school, which launched classes last month, has baffled critics,
many of whom have dismissed it as a blasphemy or a fraud.....

.....students learn about the meaning of dreams, the classification of
angels, the mysteries of the holy spirit. They learn how to discern a person's
inner feelings from behavior and appearance."

"Now the 21-year-old spends her days and nights patrolling the harsh desert
landscape through which the Israeli-Egyptian border runs, wielding a gun,
trained and ready to kill in defence of her country."

I have never ever heard someone talk about freedom with such shallowness and oversimplification than George W. Bush and the Syrian poet Adonis. Their talk reminds me of elementary school composition assignments. And I was reading the text of the speech by Adonis in Geneva at a conference organized by Hatham Al-Manna`. I share Adonis' criticisms of the Syrian opposition and of the intervention by regional and international powers but how come he has been silent over the years about the crimes of the regime? And in fact, Adonis worked for the Syrian regime newspaper right after the regime intervened in Lebanon on the side of the right-wing militias. Freedom, my potato.

Yesterday,
I told my students in American Government class that I came to America
in 1983, with two dollars in my pocket. I said that I came here in a
boat and that I peddled my way through the ocean. They were listening
intently and did not realize that I was kidding until I added: there
were sharks all around me and a monster from outer space was attacking
me from above. Ha ha.

Lebanese think that their country is world famous. Yesterday, I asked 130 students in my American Government class: who has never ever heard of a country called Lebanon? Some 40 students raised their hands.

This is a brief profile of Syrian dissident, Haytham Al-Manna`. I have praised the integrity and stances of Al-Manna` but I am--unlike him--opposed to any dialogue with the Syrian regime. Too much blood has been shed. I am opposed to dialogue with the regime or with the armed opposition gangs of FSA or An-Nusrah.

"to the Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper, an aggressive outlet often
described as aligned with such anti-Western movements as Hezbollah." Aggressive how? By not recycling the truths of the White Man? Also, are Saudi-funded Salafite outlets aggressive? (thanks Electronic Ali)

PS Emily sent me this: "Note that Max Fisher's description – particularly the designation "aggressive"
– appears to come from the replies he got on Twitter in response to his question
if it were fair to describe Al-Akhbar as "sympathetic" to Assad. Journalism at
it's best."

This is how Al-Arabiyya (the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law) documented its sources on the "news" that apowerful explosion damaged an Iranian nuclear installation: "Western news media circulated what was published in Die Welt [Al-Arabiyya wrote Die Wold--kid you not] based on an informed expert's account".

Syrian dissident, Haytham Al-Manna` asks why there are no condemnation of Jabhat An-Nusrah after it was revealed that it perpetrated the massacre of Hayy As-Salmiyyah (which had been previously blamed in Western and oil and gas media on the regime).

This is the headline: "Pentagon Expanding Cybersecurity Force to Protect Networks Against Attacks".

Now the story: "The Pentagon is moving toward a major expansion of its cybersecurity
force to counter increasing attacks on the nation’s computer networks,
as well as to expand offensive computer operations on foreign
adversaries, defense officials said Sunday."

"At least five unarmed young Palestinians, including a 21-year-old woman, have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers in 13 days since the start of the year, prompting mounting concern about the unwarranted use of live fire. A sixth was killed on his 17th birthday last month, and a seventh death this month is disputed by the Israeli military."

"An Israeli soccer club notorious for the anti-Arab chants of its fans plans
to recruit two Muslim players, fuelling protests in the stands that a senior
cabinet minister condemned as shocking and racist. At a Premier League game on
Saturday, Beitar Jerusalem supporters held a banner reading "Beitar will always remain pure". Other signs hoisted by fans also protested against its owner's
intention to have two Muslim Chechen players join.

Beitar Jerusalem is owned by Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaydamak. He
said he would not be deterred from bringing the two Chechens, Zaur Sadayev and
Dzhabrail Kadiyev, from Russian premier league club Terek Grozny to Israel later
in the week.

Gaydamak told Israeli Army Radio the "small group of so-called supporters"
of Beitar Jerusalem "do not represent the general opinion of the Israeli public,
and they should not be allowed to win".

My comment: Zionists always imply racism is limited to a fringe element in
Israeli society while it is widespread and pervasive. Beitar Jerusalem "fans"
are just a bit more vocal than others, that's all.

Even those pretending to
condemn it never fail to change subject to alleged anti-Semitism in the same
breath:

"I was shocked by the racism displayed in the Beitar Jerusalem stands
yesterday against having Muslim or Arab players on the team," Deputy Prime
Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Sunday. "We cannot ignore these displays of racism
which not long ago were directed - and are still being directed - towards the
Jewish people," he wrote on Twitter.

"After you shared the the love story of "activists" I realized that I have seen
that activist couple before and started to search it. And I found this photo. In
fact, the groom is not an activist but a FSA member, however NPR manipulates the
story for creating sympathy. I think this is not a mistake because they choose
the only picture inwhich we cannot see his vest. I sent you a Reuters photo
about an "activist" in Homs carrying pistol."

""There are reports that destructive cyber tools have been used
against Iran, the chairman said. "I'm neither confirming nor denying any part in
that, but what it should tell you is that capability exists," he added. "And if
it exists, whoever's using those [capabilities] can't assume that they're the
only smart people in the world." ""

""The "combat mission" teams may help commanders in operations
such as a cyber component to disable an enemy's command-and-control system
before a conventional attack. Each region will have teams that focus on
particular threats — say, from China or Iran.""

""Moving a step closer to completing its nuclear triad, India
on Sunday successfully test fired a ballistic missile, with a strike range of
around 1500 kilometres, from an underwater platform in Bay of
Bengal.""

"First, it dwells on foreign policy at the expense of Faisal’s role as a domestic reformer." Reformer? Unless you refer to his belated abolishment of slavery. In fact, King Faysal's coup (arranged largely by his lousy brother Fahd) was against the reforms that were orchestrated by the progressive reformers of the King Sa`ud's administration.

""The government here has a firm intention to prevent the
Brotherhood from implanting itself any further and rejects complaints that these
prosecutions violate human rights. Of course the trials must be fair and the
evidence must be clear, but for officials here the critical point is to show
what the Brotherhood is up to, and show that its activities are about seizing
power rather than building respect for human rights or promoting democracy."" (thanks Amir)

I really want to know this: Western governments and media need to make up their mind, and fast. Their hypocrisy can't fly anymore. Is insulting religion part of the freedom of speech that they brag about--as they always preach and hector to Muslims--or is insulting religion and religious groups something to be condemned and not tolerated and even banned by law? Because I really don't know the answer. I basically get the impression that insulting Islam and Muslims is always defended as part of Western freedom of speech while insulting Judaism and Jews is part of legally prohibited hate speech? This is why even hypocritical Islamists are more consistent than Western governments as they call for banning insults to ALL religions. But Western governments and media want to distinguish between insults to Islam and insults to Judaism as if we don't notice. Also, look at this: "French groups even went so far as to sue
Google for allegedly promoting “unsolicited and systematic associations
between famous people and their Jewishness” through the service’s
auto-complete function, meaning that typing in the name of a famous
figure occasionally yields the word “Jew” or “Jewish” among the
suggested searches." Who are the "French groups"? Does that mean that any reference to the religion of any person is now not acceptable or is it only in relation to Jewish people? I just want to understand Western laws better.

PS Personally, I don't believe that Jews or Muslims should acquire any special legal status to shield them from criticisms or even insults, just as we communists and anarchists receive regular criticisms and insults. All criticisms and insults should be legal provided that the person who hurl the insults is willing to accept the consequences of his/her prejudice or bigotry.

"Professor Friedman said in a telephone interview that the test results..." So the New York Times actually called the doctor? Why is that significant news? I would not be surprised if the New York Times publishes a special supplement about the urine tests of the current Israeli prime minister. (thanks Laurie)

Read this article in the Times. It leaves you with the impression that there is a group of "armed secular activists" fighting in Syria. And notice that the armed gangs of the Free Syrian Army are conflated in the article with "secular activists". And the Free Syrian Army is still referred to as "secular" although almost all of its battalions are named after Islamic-themed names or after oil and gas kings and princes--who are not, incidentally--secular. And then this about Jahbat An-Nusrah: "The Syrian opposition is ambivalent about the group". What do you mean ambivalent? Both George Sabra of the Syrian National Council and Ahmad Ma`adh Al-Khatib (the foe of Facebook and masturbation--see a previous post here about his writings) publicly defended Jabhat An-Nusrah and castigated the US for its terrorist categorization. How is that ambivalent? The ignorant Western media is so stubborn in its insistence of the early (fictional) narrative about the Syrian "revolution", that the attempt to fit present-day facts and realities into that narrative have become quite comical.

Israeli media are gleefully reporting "brain activity" in recent tests of comatose Ariel Sharon. His doctors indicate that he may soon resume his butchery and war crimes. I am sure that his brain is already showing fantasies of murder of Arab children.

Diana sent me this: "In case you haven't come across this, this site has informative infographics on
the many injustices Palestinians undergo, from forced childbirth at checkpoints,
the various stages of hunger strikes, the contamination of Gaza water, to the
greater isreal bus connection."

""Holder appointed Rod J. Rosenstein, the
U.S. attorney for Maryland, to lead the Stuxnet inquiry after a New York Times
article about President Obama ordering cyberattacks against Iran using a
computer virus developed in conjunction with Israel. Other publications,
including The Washington Post, followed with similar reports about Stuxnet and a
related virus called Flame.""

""BP, which ran the plant in a consortium with the Norwegian energy
company Statoil and the Algerian state-owned Sonatrach, said last night it was
aware of the allegations that a transportation contract had been handed to a
company run by the Ghediri family. The owner's brother, Mohamed Ghediri - better
known as Abdelhamid Abou Zeid - is the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM), which is one of the terrorist organisations waging war with the French
for control of northern Mali.""

""Sunni militants have been flocking from Lebanon to Syria in
greater numbers in recent months to join forces with Islamic extremists battling
the Syrian government, according to senior Lebanese security officials.""

"" "I never wanted to do this," he insisted in perfect English,
"but now I must." He pointed at the men around him. "He's an engineer. This
one's a mechanic. My two brothers are fighting now, because we have to defend
our district from the armed gangs." Nizar and his friends were given 40 days
training and handed weapons by the army. They are now counted among President
Assad's forces, defending their homes from rebels they believe to be
fundamentalists, fanatics and foreigners."" (thanks Amir)

From Laurel: "Inspired by Japanese Haiku, he has already published three collections of poetry: “The Nigger,” “Kimo,” and “The Owl.”....

"And
in the volume of the mallshouts the owl with zealwith a torch-cryI
am immortalI am King Kong of the desert,I am Godzilla of the
NegevThe Golem of the Negev Mall." Don't mock his lousy poetry. This guy may soon win the Nobel Prize for Bullshit Literature.

Comic by Terry Furry, reproduced from "Heard the One About the Funny Leftist?" by Cris Thompson, East Bay Express

As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.

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